Mineral Wells
=============
by: Tom Russell
written by: Tom Russell - Frontera Music
(capo 3rd fret)
Intro:
G (alternate between |320003| and |302003| intro only)
She was livin' in a cadillac
Bedded down in the back seat
On a back street of the Hollywood hills
With a shoebox museum of memories
Old photos and medical bills
She'd been a great actress in two dozen movies
Played Shakespeare on the great London stage
Before the three husbands, six kids and bad breaks
Of fifty-eight odd years of age
Him they called fat boy wore grey overalls
And he clocked in at four hundred pounds
With a passion for food and film magazines
He'd been a great critic downtown
He'd seen all her movies, worshipped her face
Heard her story and took her on in
Though she bore no resemblance to the star he adored
The film's over before real life begins
Chorus:
She told him of a fountain of youth
In the hot Texas earth
It'll heal and renew us
It's somewhere west of Fort Worth
And she met Errol Flynn there
In the Crazy Water Hotel
And they danced down the street
In the moonlight of old Mineral Wells
G (alternate between |320003| and |302003|)
So they boarded a greyhound in search of the fountain
Fat boy and the aging film queen
Through the Great Painted Desert and all across Texas
Amarillo plain to Abilene
They got off in Fort Worth for a fresh cup of coffee
Caught the local to old Mineral Wells
And it dropped them in front of that boarded up palace
Called the Crazy Water Hotel
Disillusioned they found a cheap room off the highway
Drank vodka from a styrofoam cup
There'd be no healing return to the past
The fountain of youth had dried up
So the critic and the film star held hands and drank vodka
As the great Texas sun rose and fell
And drunk but still dreaming they waltzed down the street
In the moonlight of old Mineral Wells
Repeat Chorus
They danced down the street
In the moonlight of old Mineral Wells
>From the album The Long Way Around 1997 Hightone Records
Live duet with Katy Moffatt